Minsk, Belarus

We had a late afternoon flight from Vilnius to Minsk. Vilnius International is a small airport, with only eight gates, and not much for souvenir shops or cafes. They did have free wifi though!

The flight was only 35 minutes, one of the shortest international flights I’ve taken. Belarus is another country that’s recently relaxed visa requirements and is making an effort to encourage tourism. The visa still requires you to fly in and out of Minsk, thus the short flights from Vilnius-Minsk and Kiev-Minsk, where we might otherwise have gone by land.

We were through the airport in record time, less than an hour after touching down. It was a small plane (an Embraer jet), so there weren’t many other passengers. Before we went through immigration we had to buy mandatory health insurance from a desk on the left. (4 EUR each for 4 days, and they take credit card or Euro, but no tap). They scan your passport to skim your name etc, it’s very slick and fast.

Next was through immigration. The official only asked us how long we were staying. There’s no visa fee for less than 30 days for us (and about 80 other countries). The official was very thorough in checking all the anti-forgery things on the passport, like the holograms etc, even using a mini magnifying glass. But he didn’t bother or care with any of our past visa stamps or trips. We got a stamp on the back page, just like in the old Russian days. The internet had us a bit concerned about getting through immigration but it was very fast and professional.

Our luggage came out as we arrived at the conveyor. There was only one other flight that arrived around the same time, it’s not a busy airport (I think Belarus is in the bottom ten of least-visited countries). The carts were free too!

We had arranged with the hotel for airport pick-up cause it wasn’t that much more than a taxi. Our driver was waiting with a sign with my name, and we were off to the hotel. It’s about 45 minutes from the airport to central Minsk.

We booked at the Hilton cause boutique hotels aren’t yet a thing in Minsk. By the time we checked in and cleaned up it was almost 10pm, so just ate at the hotel restaurant. There were two options, the restaurant on the 7th floor or the rooftop lounge on the 31st floor. It was a clear evening, so we opted for the lounge.

The high top tables were all reserved (on a Wednesday!) so we sat at a couch and had some munchies. I had a local draft which was good, Heather tried their cocktails which were excellent.